Beta Release Requirements

In order to be released to the general public, the Beta Candidate (RC) must meet all of the following criteria. This is intended to make the decision process as clear and straightforward as possible. Mostly met items are incomplete until they are met. Optional and nice to have items should not be included in this list.

There may be times where a requirement is unmet only in a particular configuration, such as with some keyboard layouts but not others, or if a particular character is used in a username, password or passphrase. In such cases, the release team should use their judgement and refer to precedent to determine whether or not the issue should be considered to block the release. They should consider the number of users likely to be affected by the issue, the severity of the case when the issue is encountered, and the ease or otherwise with which the issue can be avoided by both informed and uninformed users.

The term release-blocking desktops means all the desktop environments in which bugs are currently considered capable of blocking a Fedora release. The current set of release-blocking desktops for the x86 architectures is GNOME and KDE, and for the ARM architectures is Xfce. Note that bugs in desktops that are not part of this set which would infringe these criteria automatically qualify for freeze exception status, according to the freeze exception bug process.

The term release-blocking images means all the images in which bugs are currently considered capable of blocking a Fedora release. The current set of release-blocking images includes the images defined by the three primary Products - Server, Workstation and Cloud - in their product requirement documents and/or technical specifications, and the KDE live image. As of Fedora 24, no 32-bit x86 image can be 'release-blocking', by FESCo policy. The canonical list of release-blocking images for Fedora 27 is on this page.

Image size requirements

Initialization requirements

Release-blocking images must boot

All release-blocking images must boot in their supported configurations.

Supported media types

Release-blocking live and dedicated installer images must boot when written to optical media of an appropriate size (if applicable) and when written to a USB stick with any of the officially supported methods.

Difference from Alpha

This criterion differs from the similar Alpha criterion only in that it requires all supported methods of writing a Fedora USB stick to work, not just any single one.

Installer requirements

Remote package sources

When using the dedicated installer images, the installer must be able to use HTTP, FTP and NFS repositories as package sources.

NFS specific requirements

The installer can handle two different types of NFS repository. It can either contain a package tree, as with HTTP and FTP repositories, or it can contain the DVD ISO image of the same release as the installer. For Beta, only one of these types must work - if one works and the other doesn't, that is OK.

Difference from Alpha

This criterion differs from the similar Alpha criterion in that it requires both HTTP and FTP repositories to work (Alpha requires only one or the other), and adds the requirement for NFS repositories to work.

Direct kernel boot

It must be possible to install by booting the installation kernel directly (including via PXE) and correctly specifying a remote source for the installer itself.

Remote source types

All remote source types required to work for package retrieval in the relevant criterion at the current milestone must work in this case too.

Incomplete remote source

This must work even if the remote source is not a complete package repository but contains only the files necessary for the installer itself to run. In this case, to complete a full installation, a separate package repository would also have to be specified in some way.

Kickstart delivery

The installer must be able to use all available kickstart delivery methods.

'Available' defined by installer team

The intent of available is that the installer developers get to define the set of supported kickstart methods. Available kickstart delivery method means 'an argument to the ks= parameter which is backed by code in the installer'. These should be documented at Anaconda/Kickstart#Chapter_6._Making_the_Kickstart_File_Available

References

'Available' rider added during major Fedora 19 criteria revision at request of anaconda team

Guided partitioning

When using the guided partitioning flow, the installer must be able to:

Cleanly install to a disk with a valid ms-dos or gpt disk label and partition table which contains existing data and sufficient unpartitioned space for a Fedora installation

Complete an installation using any combination of disk configuration options it allows the user to select

Remove existing storage volumes to free up space, at the user's direction

Reject or disallow invalid disk and volume configurations without crashing.

Cleanly install?

Cleanly install' means that Fedora must be installed to the empty space, and if specified a bootloader should be installed to the MBR, but otherwise the disk should be left alone: the existing disk label and partitions must be untouched and no data may be lost.

Guided partitioning

Guided partitioning refers to the path where the user allows the installer to handle partitioning, as opposed to custom or manual partitioning where the user has full control over the partitioning process.

Disk configuration options?

Disk configuration options refers to choices such as encryption and volume/partition type.

Reject or disallow invalid disk and volume configurations without crashing.

Custom partitioning

Custom partitioning refers to the path where the user chooses to take full control over partitioning, as opposed to guided partitioning where the user allows the installer to handle partitioning.

Re-using /home

The requirement "assign mount points to existing storage volumes" is considered to cover the common operation of re-using an existing /home partition without formatting it. For all other mount points, it is acceptable if re-use requires them to be re-formatted.

Hardware and firmware RAID

The installer must be able to detect and install to hardware or firmware RAID storage devices.

System-specific bugs

System-specific bugs don't necessarily constitute an infringement of this criterion. It is not unusual that support for some specific firmware RAID controller, for instance, might be broken. In the case of such system-specific bugs, whether the bug is considered to infringe the criterion will be a subjective decision based on the severity of the bug and how common the hardware in question is considered to be. See Blocker_Bug_FAQ for more discussion of this.

Rescue mode

The rescue mode of the installer must be able to detect and mount any installation performed according to the applicable criteria, and provide a shell with access to utilities capable of performing typical recovery operations.

Upgrade requirements

For each one of the release-blocking package sets, it must be possible to successfully complete an upgrade from a fully updated installation of the previous stable Fedora release with that package set installed.

Release-blocking package sets

The release-blocking package sets are the minimal set, and the sets for each one of the release-blocking desktops.

Virtualization requirements

Self hosting virtualization

The release must be able host virtual guest instances of the same release.

What does that mean?

This rather concise criterion means effectively means that both virtual host and virtual guest functionality must work - it's implied, if you think about it. It also means that there must be no showstopper bugs in the installer when installing to a virtual machine...

Post-install requirements

Except where otherwise specified, each of these requirements applies to all supported configurations described above.

Expected installed system boot behavior

A system installed without a graphical package set must boot to a working login prompt without any unintended user intervention, and all virtual consoles intended to provide a working login prompt must do so.

Difference from Alpha

This criterion differs from the similar Alpha criterion by requiring that a login prompt be present without user intervention, and that all virtual consoles provide login prompts: the Alpha criterion is satisfied even if only a single console provides a login prompt, and it is not the one presented to the user after boot.

References

Requirement for graphical installs to boot to desktop was in original Fedora 13 criteria revision

Changes to cover non-graphical installs were proposed 2010-08-12, implemented 2010-08-16: this included the distinct Alpha and Beta requirements

Working sound

The installed system must be able to play back sound with gstreamer-based applications.

System-specific bugs

System-specific bugs don't usually constitute an infringement of this criterion. It is meant to cover bugs which completely prevent sound playback from working in any hardware configuration. See Blocker_Bug_FAQ for more discussion of this.

Desktop shutdown, reboot, logout

All release-blocking desktops' offered mechanisms (if any) for shutting down, logging out and rebooting must work.

Work?

Similar to the Alpha criterion for shutting down, shutdown and reboot mechanisms must take storage volumes down cleanly and correctly request a shutdown or reboot from the system firmware. Logging out must return the user to the environment from which they logged in, working as expected.

A Fedora Change being incomplete, in and of itself, does not constitute a blocker bug. The Change process is separate from this process. Changes are required to meet certain standards at certain points of the release cycle, but this is part of the Change process and managed, tracked and enforced separately from this process. However, if a proposed feature being incomplete causes any of the above criteria to be met, then the bug is a release blocker.

Contingency Plan

If all of the Beta Release Requirements are not met by 20:00 UTC on Wednesday the week prior to release day, the release will be delayed by one week so that the Beta Release Requirements can be met.

One week will be added to all remaining tasks in the release schedule, including the final release date.

Confirming Beta Requirements

QA has the responsibility of determining whether the criteria for the release has been met (as outlined above) through discussion with Development and Release Engineering. QA's findings will be reviewed and discussed at the Go/No-Go Meeting.

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